The present invention is drawn to a fireplace shield and, more particularly, a fireplace shield for closing off and sealing the opening of a fireplace.
It is well known, that during the operation of a fireplace, hot gases arising from a fire will draw large amounts of heated air out of a room and discharge the heated air up the chimney of the fireplace. Normally, during the active combustion of wood in a fireplace, the loss of heated air from the room is generally compensated by the heat conducted and radiated out of the fireplace by the burning wood. As a result of the foregoing, there tends not to be any great heat loss during the active combustion of the fire and, therefore, for esthetic reasons it is preferred to leave the fireplace open rather than provide glass doors for sealing the fireplace during active combustion.
After a fire has completely died out, it is common to close the damper on the fireplace chimney in order to prevent the loss of heat from the room up the chimney. However, it is not possible to close the damper on the fireplace chimney until the fire has completely died down. Thus, during the period between active combustion and the fire being completely extinguished, there is a time frame where the damper must remain open and substantial heat loss occurs from the room up the chimney. In addition to unwanted heat loss up the chimney, there is substantial danger of down draft which might result in forcing aches out of the fireplace and into the room.
Naturally, it would be highly desirable to provide an efficient and effective manner for sealing the opening of a fireplace during the time period before the fire is completely burned out and that point when the fireplace damper can be closed in order to prevent heat loss and/or unwanted down drafts.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a fireplace shield for closing off and sealing the opening of a fireplace.
It is a particular object of the present invention to provide a fireplace shield as set forth above which is effective in preventing heat loss from a room and unwanted down draft into a room during the period when an active fire is dying out.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a fireplace screen as aforesaid which may be readily usable in combination with any free standing fireplace screen.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a fireplace shield as set forth above which is easily transportable and readily storable.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinbelow.